it’s an example of simpson’s paradox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson's_paradox

a worked example: if england/scotland/wales all use heart ❤️ 49% and use tears of joy 😂 at 51%, and then northern ireland was to use heart ❤️at 100%, you can imagine this would tip the whole uk over

even more freaky, you could make all 4 constituent countries use heart ❤️ at 49%, make each constituent use a different unique emoji 👍😀🥰😼 at 51% each, and then the aggregate would show that heart ❤️ is still the most used across the UK

now consider for each place on this map, they are ranking more than just 2 emojis. the map itself says that tears of joy 😂 is only scoring 5% worldwide, and that’s 1st place. with margins of 5% and under to be deemed winner, it’s no wonder funky effects show up

here’s one example for you (click here) exploring igbo gender norms

here’s a second report that’s worth reading too (click here)

i don’t have much knowledge about the other cultures suggested, others can provide info for those

yeah it’s pretty messy

there was an original condition called “autism” which referred to the stereotypical, ““low functioning”” case where someone has intellectual disabilities and the rest

then a ““high functioning”” variant was labelled, where the intellectual disability was missing, called “asperger’s syndrome”

then more and more inbetween cases started being labelled like rett syndrome, CDD, PDD-NOS, and so they had to say “fuck it, it’s all “autism spectrum disorder” now”

over time, “autism” has become shorthand for ASD. to avoid confusion, the OG autism sometimes gets described as “classic autism”

honestly it’s all a big mess

you’re entirely right. allistic is silly. i think it’s slightly worse than silly though. i have two takes on this.

my first take is that you shouldn’t slur people.

my second is that if you’re gonna slur someone anyway, don’t be a chicken; just slur them. hiding behind “allistic” is a little bit like hiding behind “youths”, or “fruity”, or “welfare scroungers”, or “special”, or when people do that thing where they go “…she… oh sorry i mean he” (and vice-versa). it’s either a dogwhistle, or dogwhislte-adjacent. we all know what the speaker is implying when they uses these terms. you’re just slurring someone without the confidence necessary to do so.

this is why i unironically use normie (on the internet). sometimes i want to be rude about it, y’know? am in the wrong to slur like this? yes, absolutely. whilst i might use normie in the context of venting, it still doesn’t make it right. but at least i’m not being a coward about my position by hiding behind “allistic”

sometimes, especially when i’m chatting amongst autistics, it’s easier to casually write “when normies do x it upsets me, how about you?” instead of writing formal prose like “Oh I must say! These dastardly Neurotypicals have a particular behaviour pattern that troubles my mind… Do tell me how you bear the burden of such travesties.”.

doing the formal thing is tiring, and sometimes i don’t want to be the better person. 😎👍

look, all i’m saying is, the public transit and bike infrastructure aren’t the only reasons people wanna move there 😏

this meme can be saved, there are indeed methods…

the OP’s image was originally posted to the internet through twitter on October 21st this year. (nitter link)

source image was posted to twitter handle “GlowFYourSelf”, as part an advertising campaign for a website called “GlowFYourSelf”, which appears to sell… personal toys. based out of portland oregon, no surprises there lol.

source image was part of an album of 4 of images that all look similar. they were likely generated using AI because in the original image, the writing on the box is all borked.

this original, crisp, 2k x 2k image was then stolen 4 days ago by an instagram meme account called “worst.buy”.

from there, it has then received a caption, a bitmoji sticker, and a faint “CV” watermark stamped in the lower left.

through all these saves and re-uploads, it has been deep fried, jpegged, and cut in resolution. for shame.

fortunately for this meme repair, no 'shopping was needed to complete the work - i went straight to the source.

here you go folks. ❤️

gold skin unlocked: escape 1000 cats

because an NT literally cannot handle the truth, i.e the actual, literal truth that you just said. they must dig for an implication or inference.

if you tell them, literally, exactly, "i'm going now because i'm exhausted, talk to you next time" an NT will make an inference, or find a hidden implication, because that's what NT brains do, that's how NT brains talk.

the inference here is "oh, they're exhausted by me, and so they don't like me?? oh noo :(((" when actually, the truth is literally, exactly what you said.

remember, your literal statement runs counter to 99% of their lived NT to NT social interactions, where their inferences do hold true, and if an NT told an NT that "ok, i'm exhausted, i'm going", that actually implies they don't like the other NT. you see what i mean?

these differences in language usage can be explained through the double empathy problem, it's well worth reading into.

so, the tiresome way to explain the truth, every time, is to explain that a) you have autism, b) you can get tired easily by social situations, and c) that it's not their fault. the problem with this approach is that a lot of NT interactions are "throwaway" interactions. classic example is two people walking on a sidewalk, and you both have dogs. you may or may not have to stop and talk to this person for a throwaway interaction, that will last 2 to 5 minutes, and you do not have time in this interaction to explain points a, b, and c. so, for their sake and yours, it's time to mask up! 🥸

this is why you can't "just tell the truth".

furthe reading into the double empathy problem: Source 1, Source 2, Source 3

The so-called “spy clause” in the UK’s Online Safety Bill, which experts argued would have made end-to-end encryption all but impossible in the country, will no longer be enforced…

oh okay. so they’re still going to pass it into law anyway, and then pinky promise not to enforce it. right… 🤦

yep this is exactly the issue. NT people giving advice to brains that can’t use it. it’s all mostly-worthless advice! 😃 it’s good for me to call it out, but better if i offer advice myself, right? practice what you preach

(apologies, this post got out of hand. tl;dr is at the bottom)

if you are someone reading this who is doing the job search, i want to offer some three-part advice around interviews, from an autistic brain who has been down this road before:

★

first part: consider that most interviews are not an assessment of your actual job skills - they are an assessment of your social skills, and they use your level of social skill as a proxy to decide on your job skill. i know that claim sounds ridiculous, but once you think about it, it makes sense, meditate on it for a moment

we will consider the case of applying for a shelf-stacking job. i will be blunt, from a technical standpoint, this job is not hard at all. stock inventory machine says you need to put 3 loaves of bread out? you grab 3 loaves from out back, and put them on the shelf, preferably in reverse order of expiry. customer asks for something? you stop what you’re doing, and go with the customer to their request, no matter what your current task is. one of your colleagues needs help on the cash register? you… get on the cash register. each action in this job has a definitve correct answer, and many wrong ones. you can study these correct answers beforehand

if you’re prepared, it’s not really a job you can fuck up, mostly (don’t worry, he lived). however, here’s the pickle - by the time you get to interview, nearly all candidates have the base technical skills required for that position, since (these days) weaker candidates are filtered out before the interview, for not knowing how the CV ATS keyword game works. only strong candidates who have done the prep work remain

it leaves little room for an interviewer to filter out who should be selected for the job. if we presume the interviewer is also barred from conducting work trials, it leaves the interviewer with nothing else to measure, other than the candidate’s social skills. put simply, if you have two equal candidates, and one of them can talk to customers in a more “NT-style”, then the candidate with the best social skills will be chosen. it’s no wonder then, that at least 85% of adults that are autistic, are unemployed. most of these are also degree holders 👩‍🎓

★

with that context, here’s my second part: i learned this lesson years ago from an older acquaintance who has passed on now. she arrived in the UK after being expelled from her country. this was the second time she had to move to a new land, and her second time arriving in a place where you were judged by who you are

she discovered an environment of “social relegation”, where some employers were quite happy to hire “different”, so long as they were not visible. example: she could work in a kitchen, but not as a server. or she could work in the warehouse, but not the food counter (because people didn’t want “someone like her” handling their food). she could work manufacturing textiles, but not as a sales rep pushing the finished clothes

this is how it was in the 60s/70s in the UK, and it can be boiled down to “no blacks, no dogs, no irish”. i have an irish background myself, and i’ve heard enough stories like this

since she grew up in a less enlightened time, there was no easy fix for her predicament. social change would not come soon enough for her, and after years of being in and out of positions, realised this lesson:

“…you have to be so skilled, and so needed, for the job you are applying for, that they want you before they see you…”

years later, she would find herself a stable position in the NHS (UK healthcare system)

now, i want to be clear. i think that society should adapt to be more inclusive. however, in the context of getting a job, i am being pragmatic about it, and understand that the necessary change wont arrive in time for people like us take advantage of it. i am not defending the status quo, just contextualizing it. i would encourage you to take the lesson she gave me directly to heart

★

with these two contexts, here’s my last part (warning: opinion time): “you’re gonna get clocked, sooner, or later”

if you try, and try, and try, to study how the social dance of interviews work, and wargame scenarios for all outcomes, you will burnout. the depth of social interaction is as vast as space, and you don’t have a warp drive. if you disregard this, and try the path anyway, you may be clocked in your interview as “different”, and will then be left with two outcomes, both are varying degrees of bad

1. you discolse you are autistic. personally, i’ve had no luck with this, and in my opinion, you will give them a perfect reason to “no longer move forward with your application”. illegal? sure. but remember, it’s not the autism, it’s because you’re “just not a good fit” 🥴
2. you do not disclose your autism. if you get clocked, then it’s game over. you will be let go for “being unsociable”, and it won’t be discriminatory to do so because they reasonably didn’t know about your autism

my recommendation? forget about trying to game the social dance of the interview. another analogy, would be if a wheelchair user is faced with a flight of stairs. that’s how damning interviews are to autistic people. you need to find a ramp, lift, or other way to get around this obstacle. you’re not going up those stairs, so you must go around. while interviews should be more inclusive, currently, they are not very inclusive at all. so, we have to work with the hand we are dealt

firstly, you need to reflect on your desired career choice. if it’s a career that has high competition, and is saturated by graduates? honestly? you need to reconsider, because it’s not gonna happen. at interview time, you will be competing against social butterflies and masters of the dance, and you will be trounced if you try to interview for these jobs. even worse, these positions sometimes use group interviews because there are so many candidates, and some candidates will actively step on you to succeed

secondly, research what jobs are in really high demand. we’re talking really, really high demand. the sort of demand that wont go away easily in the next 10 years. you need to look for jobs that are so hot, that they need bodies in seats, and they need them now. if you want an indicator, you should be considering anything in healthcare, technology, or finance (in order of amorality). the demand in these sectors will not go away anytime soon. if you need something more physical to do for work, consider solar panel/wind turbine/AC installation - all of these are going to grow massively because of climate change

thirdly, you need to reflect whether you are the sort of person who could handle a full “in-person” job, or whether remote work is right for you. this is a personal decision, i can’t help with this. each autistic person is different. some thrive by having a rich environment of sights and sounds to engage with, and others (i suspect most, lol) need a workplace that is a quiet box, preferably miles away from colleagues. i know i’m on the “remote” side of this dilemma

once you’ve picked remote or traditional, then take that knowledge back to the list of in-demand jobs, and shortlist some positions that look promising. your final task is to filter this shortlist for positions that you either have the qualifications for, or you can acquire qualifications cheaply for, or can be self-taught. personally, i think self-teaching is going to be your big weapon, and your key advantage over NT candidates. remember, you need to be so good, that the interviewer doesn’t give a damn whether you fumble the social dance

daunting as it is to re-skill for a new career path, you should consider in 5 years time, would you rather be yourself right now (status quo), or be yourself + a bunch of newly learnt skills? you won’t be getting any younger! it’s never too late to re-spec. i think definitely, definitely re-spec for an in-demand job, and by doing so, your interview worries will lessen. the worries never goes away, but you can be reasonably confident that your new, in-demand skillset will carry you over the finish line

★

in summary:

1. it’s no wonder we struggle with interviews, because interviews don’t assess your job skills - they assess your social skills. it’s a trap that they dont teach you! no wonder that 85% of adults that are autistic, are unemployed.
2. to counter this, “…you have to be so skilled, and so needed, for the job you are applying for, that they want you before they see you…”. this is how you can individually mitigate against a biased recruitment process
3. with that in mind, research the highest demand jobs within your reach. find the job sectors that are in so high demand that they willingly look past the social skills, and then re-spec your skillset to match this demand. i’m not saying it’s easy, no. it’s necessary.

good luck, stranger ❤️

ahh you must watch out for the “[fruit] juice” vs “[fruit] juice drink” meme

on the packet somewhere, it will specify, for the example of your case, “apple juice”, or “apple juice drink”

anything that is a “juice drink” is just not the good stuff. a “juice drink” can have basically anything they want in there, with some 0.0001% real fruit to cover themselves legally. always look out for “juice” on it’s own, that’s the 100% real stuff

i say this because i got bitten by buying the cheapest apple “juice” once, to find out it was a “juice drink”, i.e not apple juice.

oh god it’s not just “some people” are influenced, it’s “most people” are influenced?? 💀

it’s no wonder that “influencer” is a job title, yikes!

also, this line made me laugh:

Instead, the autistic shopper focuses on what really matters: ingredients, price, and the necessity of even owning the product. Time and again they select the best product for their needs regardless of how it is displayed.

when they spell out the reasons like this, it’s very funny because it’s written like we’re specimens in a zoo (imagine the david attenborough voice), and that we’re all acting strangely. no, we’re the ones acting rational, you’re the strange ones!

that’s a nice article. glad to see my reasoning validated. thank you for sharing ❤️

get this right, it genuinely shocked me too. some people just… look at the product, and then go “i’ll buy that!” and then they buy it. they are not even making a conscious choice when doing this. their brain intuitively tells them “yes, this one” and they don’t have to think it out.

more often than not, the product that wins is the product with the better or “flashy” packaging and style. that’s one reason why they spend all that money on advertising and branding. to me, it’s sooo strange. why would you not read up on your choice beforehand, or at least investigate each packet to check for food aversions, find out which one is the best $/unit value, etc? why should the packet the food is in, have any substantial bearing on your choice of purchase? (there are edge cases where the packet matters, i know)

to answer your question, yeah there is a lot of risk-takers out there!😱

sure, i get what you mean. but consider this viewpoint. a paraplegic can practise pulling themselves up a stairway by using the handrails. it will work, but it’s not going to be neat, and it will painfully out that individual as disabled either way. or, (jn this analogy) the building owner could install an elevator…

yes, we should do our best to understand the basic social script - but i think society needs to “install more elevators” to make this process easier. there’s a certain point where, no matter how hard we try to learn the social script, we’re still autistic, we’re still going to be outed as “weird”, and that cold truth is just not going away, regardless of how much practice we put in.

personally, i think seriously trying to blend in, is a fools errand. save your energy ❤️

welcome to the club ❤️

here’s a welcome gift: consider that every bit of advice that you have ever been given in your life, has been given to you in the belief that you are ““normal”” (read: NT, like them), and because most of that advice is not tuned for your autistic brain, most of it is complete trash 😀👍

consider this example: has anyone ever told you to “just read their body language”?

i don’t blame the devs, in the same way that you can’t blame a cog in a machine. it’s the machine that i’m complaining at here, not the devs

historically, big tech companies have exploited their dominant position to snuff out federated protocols in the past. why would they suddenly choose to take a sweet tone to fediverse/activitypub now?

meta has a few options here for Threads, i will list some routes:

1. co-operate fully with activitypub forever and ever, always in alignment with activitypub protocol, always does the right/moral thing, makes a meager profit and growth for doing so
2. all of option 1, but then after building up user lock-in and momentum, then start adding “meta-net” exclusive features to entice users to instances under their control. wait patiently until dominant market share established, and then stop federating outside of meta-net, to force non users to switch over. make a bigger profit and growth.
3. all of option 2, but also compete with fediverse using the strength of it’s inherited capital from meta, to gain market share quickly. bribe and buyout instances to join meta-net through sheer weight of money, send frivolous lawsuits/dmca to crush the dissenters. astroturf comment sections on non-meta instances to sway public opinion. harvest all data from activitypub to keep shadow accounts on non meta-net AP users. make even bigger profit and growth

the machine is obviously going to take option 3 here. i feel sorry for the devs, who know full well that what they make can and will be used in this way.

realistically, yes :(

opinion time: not everything has to be about fast/unsustainable growth, in the pursuit of profit. i would prefer that the fediverse grows organically, and entices quality users, posters and commenters to join based on the merits of the service, and not on it’s access to inflated VC budgets, huge advertising campaigns, and exploitation of a first-mover advantage.

facebook/meta will slay us, because we are a threat to it’s profit model. why are we even contemplating negotiations with a tiger while we have our head in it’s mouth? it beggars belief…

this is why

there is a very good chance that this project by meta is the thin end of the wedge

(edited to include “the blogpost”, link here)

wow you guys are getting rinsed over there!

for a UK perspective, we have a cinema chain over here called Everyman, it’s cinemas but every seat is a sofa/couch! and you can order food to the seats. unless it’s a peak screening, you usually get a whole couch to yourself. matinée shows are roughly ~$17 for adult, ~$11 for child. what’s pictured in the OP is no doubt one of those pull-down chairs with the itchy carpet material too. ouch!

sure, so 196 refers to a sub called r/196, in reference to r/195, which had one rule only: if you visit, you must post something before you leave.

it was called r/196 after it’s predecessor got a bit… spicy. 195 was a sub that skewed slightly left of center, but had a hard time keeping 195 clear of hate speech etc etc, and so they shut it down. r/196 was made, which skews further left as a result of this. since 195 was a general posting sub, some of the audience had a tough time accepting every 2nd meme post with a side of politics, some ended up getting banned quickly, and in reaction they made subs like r/197

r/195 itself was called r/195 because it was the house number of creator of the sub at that time.

It was our address. All the mods lived together in a 5 bedroom condo during college. 195 was our house number. One of the roommates sucks, so he wasn’t invited, and one roommate has since deleted his reddit account. But originally this was a subreddit for us to share memes and funny stuff during classes and work. It’s blown up in a big way in the 8 years since we created it.

(i cannot fetch sources because most of reddit is blacked out)

that’s about it, if anyone else knows better, correct me if i’m wrong :)